We’ve got a couple of videos (including one of Sir Tobey rolling on his back in the freshly cut grass at Kanab City Park), a post where Jen the trainer works with Boji on some commands and tricks, and one of a few more dogs from our first day of volunteering.
So, check back in a few days and see what’s new!
As we were leaving the sanctuary to return to Salt Lake City to catch our flight on Tuesday, we decided to take a quick detour to Dogtown Heights, a gated community for dogs, to see if we could touch base with Joyce from Old Friends. We had stopped by quickly one other day and had not seen her but, because Old Friends is currently under quarantine and we didn’t want to jeopardize our ability to work with other dogs, we hadn’t gone inside to try and find anyone.
One of the things we saw as we traveled to Old Friends was the site where Best Friends is building their new and fabulous puppy facility. Read about the groundbreaking for the puppy facility.
After seeing the little progress made so far ( remember that the weather out there has been pretty harsh till lately) we drove up the road toward Old Friends. Imagine our surprise to see Joyce walking two of Old Friend’s dogs alongside the road! We stopped to chat for a bit.
Both areas of Old Friends have been infected with ringworm. That means no volunteers. It also means an even more rigorous cleaning schedule than usual. In addition to their desire to limit the spread of the disease on the sanctuary, they also work very hard to not take anything home that might infect their personal pets.
We got an update on some of the dogs we saw during our last trip in December. Rollie was adopted and has gone to her forever home in Washington state. Gwennie remains at the sanctuary, as do Thunder, Idaho.
Sadly, we learned that young BJ had died shortly after our visit with him. We had taken him into Kanab for an outing one afternoon, and he seemed like such a happy and healthy young dog.
Apparently, though, at 5pm one day a caregiver said goodbye to him. He was at the fence in his run with tail wagging and looking like his energetic young self. Then another caregiver needed to give him some medication at 5:45pm. That caregiver found him down and unresponsive.
BJ was immediately taken to Best Friends Clinic. Alas, though, he could not be saved. Such a sad loss. We will treasure our time with him and are thankful to have spent some quality time with him before he died.
We wish all the best for Joyce, the other caretakers in Old Friends, and the doggie residents. We hope for a speedy recovery and a clean bill of health so that volunteers can once again experience the fun of working with Old Friends.
Our Monday morning volunteer assignment was to help Betsy in cottages 3 & 4 with some raking of a kennel run. Now, lest you think that it’s all hard work and no play when you volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, there are a LOT of different things you can do.
Most people sign up to go to a certain section of the place, like Old Friends. Once there, the “work” is often something like walking and feeding the dogs, accompanied by cleaning of the octagons and poop scooping of trails and runs (for those not faint of heart who desire to be Canine Fecal Engineers)! A blog post from our December visit shows Jerry’s skills at cleaning and engineering.
Dogtown Headquarters always has a list of special projects for volunteers. Sometimes it’s helping build a fence. Or doing some deep cleaning of an area. If you’re lucky, and not squeamish, you might be lucky enough to be there when hundreds of ticks need to be pulled off a dozen puppies! We blogged about that last time too.
Anyhow, we offered to help rake one of the runs. Here’s the scoop as we understood it.
One of the runs at Betsy’s place houses a couple of the Vicktory dogs. One of those dogs, Meryl, started eating her stuffed toys. She ate the outside material as well as the inside stuffing. This, of course, caused a blockage and she had to have surgery.
Interestingly, this was the SECOND time this had happened! So they really wanted to make sure and get the kennel cleaned out as thoroughly as possible so that poor Meryl didn’t require yet another surgery!
We picked up all on the ground that we could and then used rakes to get below the surface. The wispy white stuffing pulls apart into so many pieces and then it starts looking like the desert landscaping. It’s only when you rake it that you can find it.
Well, we took pictures of our evidence gained while raking. In addition to the outer parts of what looked to be ducks and the inner white stuffing, we found rusty screws, rusty steeples, old barb wired fence, balls, a flannel blanket, a frisbee, and assorted other bits and pieces of stuff.
We hope that the hour or so we spent doing that will ensure that she doesn’t have another problem with this. It felt rewarding to know we were making a difference in the life of this young dog who had been thru so much in her life.
As we were reflecting on Michael Vick and his upcoming release, we agreed that he should be required to donate a year’s worth of volunteer work with each of the groups that took in some of what he considered disposable trash, bred for his fun and profit. We also think he should take the offer of an arena football team to play for them at standard arena football salary of $200/week with a $50 bonus for each win, and a mandatory donation of $100,000 to a local rescue group.
We thank Best Friends for all they are doing to help the Vicktory dogs who were placed with them. They have made such a difference in the lives of these precious animals. Thanks, also, to National Geographic for making the Dogtown series – see “The Real Dogtown“!
On Monday we volunteered in a new section of Dogtown. This was the area behind Dogtown Headquarters. It’s the area you often see on the National Geographic show called Dogtown.
Dogs end up in that section, instead of the octagon cottages, for a variety of reasons. For some, it’s because they’re more aggressive (or thought to be potentially more aggresive). This is the area in Dogtown where the Vicktory dogs (so named from Michael Vick) are kept.
It’s always interesting to see the behavior of dogs in that section. If you walk by their runs, they’ll often run up to the fence, barking and baring their teeth. Makes you think that if the fence didn’t separate you that you’d come out of the encounter sans a couple of pounds of flesh or less an appendage!
The neat thing to see, though, is how some of the dogs act when their caretakers bring them out of their runs to the front of the cottage so they can go for a walk. Some of the dogs that just looked the most ferocious and protective of their space are suddenly anxious to go on a walk. Sometimes, though, those same earlier aggressive looking dogs turn timid and a bit frightened.
So, you can’t be too quick to judge how they will act merely by observing earlier aggressive sounding behavior.
We had a great deal of fun on Monday afternoon walking several of these dogs. A couple were like Hera, and had to be coaxed along the short path with a promise of treats. One reminded us of our Tipper, the 16 month old puppy who is full of energy and interested in everything (including lizards).
We both got a little sunburned on Monday. Need to remember that high altitudes on clear days, even in the absence of high temperatures, can create the right conditions for a sunburn.
… but then sanity reigned.
We have several of our own dogs at home. We also foster for a local dog rescue organization, Real Good Dog Rescue.
While we ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, TRUTHFULLY, AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY loved Sir Tobey from the moment we spied him … and while those feelings were cemented during our outing and sleepover with him … we just knew that we weren’t the ones to adopt dear Tobey.
Now, if Tobey shows up on our doorstep unannounced, we figure we’ll take him in! But he probably doesn’t know the way to Memphis.
As you can tell from the blog posts below, we took lots of pics of this dear young dog. We’ve got a couple of movies to format and post. So keep checking back for the finishing touches.
Till then, check out Tobey and Jerry being a meeter and greeter at Dogtown Headquarters and at the Welcome Center. Those 2 make a great pair!
In addition to taking Tobey on an “outing” we also had the opportunity to take him on a sleepover. Wow … what an experience.
See, Tobey reminds us of our departed basset hound, Fred, during Fred’s early years. Fred was so playful, happy to see everyone, healthy, and outgoing. Tobey has all those qualities!
Tobey had a small bone that he kept hiding from us. Anytime he got it, he chewed it for a bit. But then he wanted to hide it so that we wouldn’t take it from him. Since we’re the ones who GAVE it to him, don’t know why he’d think we TAKE it from him. But, so runs the mind of a basset hound.
We were in the 2nd story of the hotel and Tobey enjoyed riding the elevator. He also loved looking out of the large picture window onto the parking lot and street. He particularly enjoyed seeing the birds fly near the window.
He loves his toys and treats. He plays hard and long and he gets tired. He relaxes with the best of them … and he sleeps sweetly. Sorry to not have any pics of him doing his nighttime sleep – but he LOVES to cuddle in bed with his human. He will stretch out on his belly. Then he’ll lay on his side. Then he’ll curl up in a little ball. And, sometimes, he’ll go belly up! Enjoy these pics of Tobey!
Yesterday we got a special treat. We had worked all morning in one of the cottages, raking the yard (post to come) and cleaning the cottage. As a special reward, Betsy let us take Tobey for an outing.
Outings are fun things at Best Friends. Essentially, you take the dog out with you, whether to another/different spot on the sanctuary, or to downtown Kanab, or to other places (like the nearby sand dunes). You check out the dog, along with water and some treats. You sign paperwork indicating you’ll treat the dog well and not do anything that violates what Best Friends would expect you to do. They tell you when to have the dog returned. And then you leave!
We decided to take Tobey to Kanab City Park. See, there’s really no good grass that grows on the Sanctuary. Lots of sand, lots of rocks, but not so much grass. We knew the park would have a lot of green grass and, having basset hounds ourselves, we knew how much basset hounds love grass and smells.
Tobey LOVED the park. As soon as we get it formatted, we’ll have a video that shows exactly how much he loved the park! Till then see his pics below, some of which include him strolling through the streets of Kanab when we walked him during his sleepover (another post coming). Tobey loves to pose and admire himself … all so see him love to see his happiness and excitement at life.
OK, get ready for a few posts about Sir Tobey, the 14 month old basset hound at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. We spied Tobey when we went to Cottage 3 & 4 to work with Betsy. He was in a run with another dog across the way. Bellowing, as only basset hounds do when they are seeking your attention.
We found out that Sir Tobey had been hit by a car when younger, resulting in a broken pelvis and broken ribs. Apparently his family took him to Best Friends, which was a very smart step in getting him the care he most certainly needed. Then it sounds like they just left him at Best Friends, which for Tobey may have also been a fine step.
Sir Tobey is really shining at Best Friends. He has never met a stranger, or a piece of grass or anything else that he wouldn’t like to smell! Betsy takes Tobey home with her to foster. He is going to an adoption event at Grand Junction, Colorado later this week. We so hope he finds his forever home there.
Here are some of Tobey’s pics … another post coming shortly!
On our first day at Best Friends (4/26/09), we went to the younger/middle aged dogs who were at The Gardens. We had hoped to be with Old Friends, as we do work there to honor the memory of our basset hound, Fred. But Old Friends was quarantined! Ringworm, apparently.
So, we went to The Gardens and had a great time with the 2 caretakers and the new dogs we met there. We mostly helped by walking the dogs. Late in the afternoon we helped with sweeping and mopping. But it was neat to meet some new dogs and help them get a nice walk for the day.
Here are some pics and info on some of the dogs:
Reggie Boy
Karina
Reggie Boy’s roommate is Karina. She is also a sweetheart. She’s also an acrobatic artist! We looked to the side and found her standing on the ledge that goes around the kennel area. We’ve never seen a dog do that! Karina’s story is that she was with her owner and was learning to snowboard. Apparently another snowboarder crashed into her and she ended up with a broken rear leg. Not sure why she ended up at Best Friends, but she is being VERY WELL taken care of. They make sure she takes breaks so she doesn’t reinjure her leg. She walks really well!
Mercy
Another cute dog we had the pleasure of walking was Mercy. She is a lovely dog with a great attitude. Apparently, though, Mercy has a quirk. For her kennel-mate, she only likes males. And, she only likes male dogs that are black! So, in her kennel as her playmate and friend is BG (Mr. Big Guy). More on him in a moment!
Jerry pets BG
BG, Mr. Big Guy
, is a sweet young male who is Mercy’s roommate. Jerry walked him a couple of times around the loop for his walk. He loves his treats, loves the volunteers, and is an all around great dog.
Hera
The last dog I’ll mention in this post is Hera. What a clever young dog this one is! We were warned by the staff that as Hera walks she has this habit of hunkering down and cowering as if she’s afraid. She will resume her walk once she is given, or once she sees, a treat. They have you load down your pockets with treats for her walk and Hera is definitely a trickster! She would stop. We would show her a treat. She would keep walking. We would give the treat at the time we wanted to give it … we’re the pack leaders, you know. We got thru the walk and Hera gained new treats!
It’s a sad fact of life when you’re doing rescue work that not all the dogs and puppies rescued will live. Sometimes they enter shelters with diseases. Sometimes they acquire diseases when they are at the shelters. And sometimes their treatments (surgeries, heartworm, or others) contribute to their deaths.
Over the last year, our rescue group (Real Good Dog Rescue) has lost some precious dogs and puppies. When we were last at Best Friends, in December 2008, we decided we’d honor the memory of our departed furry friends with a memorial at Angel’s Rest.
Here are some pics of the memorial – along with views of the wind chime tree under which it resides and views to the right and the left. Our memorial for our dogs and puppies that will never be forgotten is in a special and sacred place … the wind chimes honor their memory as they peacefully chime in the soft wind.
Our Real Good Dog Rescue memorial is close to Fred … nice to have the connections.
Jerry and Cindy's Excellent Best Friends Adventure 